Unit 6 Flashcards
Mineral
A naturally occurring chemical element or inorganic compound that exists as a solid with a regularly repeating internal arrangement of its atoms or ions
Depletion time
The time it takes to use up a certain proportion (usually 80%) of the reserves of a mineral at a given rate of use
Spoils
A pile of waste material from surface mining
Mountain top removal
- A surface mining method
- Explosives are used to remove the top of a mountain to expose seams of coal
Smelting
The process of heating ores to release metals
Crude oil
- A black, gooedy liquid containing a micture of combustible hydrocarbons along with small amounts of sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen impurities
- Also known as conventional or light crude oil
Proven oil reserves
Known deposits from which oil can be extracted profitably at current prices using current technology
Natural gas
- A mixture of gases of which 50-90% is methane
- Has a medium net energy
- Used for cooking, heating, and industrial purposes
Synthetic natural gas (SNG)
- Gaseous coal made through coal gasification
- Removes sulfur and other impurities
Ore
Rock that contains a large enough concentration of a particular mineral to make it profitable for mining and processing
Surface mining
- The process by which shallow mineral deposits ar removed
- Vegetation, soil, and rocks overlaying the deposit are cleared away
Open-pit mining
A mining process in which machinery is used to create large pits and remove metal ores
Subsurface mining
- Mining process through which deep deposits are extracted through tunnels and shafts
- Disturbs less than 1/10 the land that surface mining does
- Can be more dangerous than surface mining
Fossil fuels
- Fossilized biological material that died millions of years ago
- A non-renewable energy source
- Oil, natural gas, coal
- Typically mined or drilled for
Petroleum
See Crude oil
Reserves
Identified deposits from which we can extract a mineral profitably at current prices
Overburden
- The waste material resulting from surface mining
- Deposited in spoils
Strip mining
The process of extracting mineral deposits that lie in large horizontal beds close to the earth’s surface
Tailings
- The rock waste materials produced from ores
- Left in piles or put into ponds
Energy density
The amount of energy available per kilogram of an energy resource
Peak production
The point in time where the pressure in an oil well drops and the rate of crude oil production begins to decline
Energy effiicency
A measure of how much useful work we can get from each unit of energy
Energy conservation
Reducing or eliminating the unnecessary waste of energy
Cogeneration
A process used to produce two useful forms of energy from the same fuel source
Electric grid
An interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers
Green roofs
- Roofs covered with specially designed soil and vegetation that is watered with automated drip irrigation
- Reduce heating and cooling costs by absorbing heat from the sun, insulating the building, and retaining heat
- Also called living roofs
Superinsulation
- A method of building design that uses higher levels of insulation and airtightness than normal
- Allows a building to be heated without a backup heating system
- Example: straw-bale construction, where house walls are built of straw bales that are covered with mud-based adobe bricks
Passive solar heating
A system designed to collect, store, and distribute heat from the sun within a well-insulated, airtight structure
Active solar heating
- A system that captures energy from the sun by pumping heat-absorbing fluids such as water or an antifreeze solution through special collectors
- Collectors are usually mounted on the roof
Solar thermal systems
- Systems which use different methods to collect and concentrate solar energy to boil water and produce steam for generating electricity
- Can be used in deserts and open areas with ample sunlight
- Also called concentrated solar power (CSP)
Photovoltaic cells
- Cells that can convert dolar energy directly into eletricity
- Thin transparent wafers of purified silicon or polycrystalline silicon
- Commonly called solar cells
Solar powered microgrids
An electric grid in which a centralied group of solar cell panels are connected by cable to a few dozen homes and local businesses
Turbine
- A machine used to convert wind into electricity
- Wind causes the three blades to spin, driving an electric generator to produce electricity
- Many turbines can be combined to create wind farms
Geothermal energy
- Heat stored in soil, underground rocks, and fluids in the earth’s mantle
- Used to heat and cool buildings and to heat water to produce electricity
Hydrothermal reservoirs
- A deeper, more concentrated reserve of geothermal energy
- Wells are drilled into them to extract dry steam, wet steam, or hot water
Biomass
- Organic matter found in plants, plant and animal wastes, and plant products
- Examples: Wood, wood pellets, wood wastes, charcoal made from wood, agricultural wastes (sugarcane stalks, rice husks, corncobs)
Ethanol
- Ethyl alcohol produced from plants and plant wastes
- A liquid biofuel
Biodiesel
- Produced from vegetables
- A liquid biofuel
Hydropower
- Any technology that uses kinetic energy of flowing and falling water to produce electricity
- A renewable energy source
Tidal energy
- The energy from ocean tides and waves
- A form of hydropower
Negative net energy
Of an energy source, when it takes more energy to produce the energy source than the source itself provides
Full cost pricing
Setting market prices of goods and services to include hidden harmful environmental and health costs of producing and using them
Placer deposits
- A category of material mined from the Earth
- Loose sands, river gravel, unconsolidated materials
Lode deposits
- A category of material mined from the Earth
- Veins of minerals or resources in the Earth that have to be dug out
Eluviation
- The transport of eroded materials and soil components down slopes
- “Eluviation” leads to “iluviate” placer deposits
Tiers of aged coal
- Peat (not a coal): partially decayed plant matter in swamps and bogs, low heat content
- Lignite (brown coal): low heat content, low sulfur content, limited supply in most areas
- Bituminous (soft coal): extensively used as a fuel (high heat content, large supplies), high heat sulfur content
- Anthracite (hard coal): high heat content, low sulfur content, limited supply in most areas
Renewable resoucres
Resources that are either unlimited or able to be replenishsed within a human lifespan (30-70 years)
Nonrenewable resources
Resoucres that are not able to be replenished or whose replacement time is so long that its negligible
Mining
The extraction of any valuable mineral or resource from the Earth
Placer deposits
loose sands, river gravel, uinconsolidated materials
Lode deposits
Veins of mineral or resources that have to be dug out
Eluviation
The transport of eroded mineral and soil components down slopes
Problems with fossil fuels
- Both extraction and consumption are dirty, energy-expensive processes
- World dependencies focus on nonrenewable fossil fuels
- Relied upon in economic sectors that make them harder to replace
- Pollution
Benefits of fossil fuels
- Often most efficient for their job
- Gasoline is compact, ignites quickly, has lots of energy
- Coal is easy to transport, has lots of energy
- Until recently, easy to extract
- Value exceeds manufacturing costs
Coal
Solid fuel primarily from plants
Four tiers of coal
- Lignite (brown coal): low heat content, low sulfur content, limited supplies
- Sub-bituminous
- Bituminous (soft coal): used as a fuel (high heat content/large supplies), high sulfur content
- Anthracite (hard coal): desirable for fuel (high heat content/low sulfur content), limited supplies
Peat
- Partially decayed plant matter in swamps and bogs
- Precursor of coal
- Often extracted from bogs
Coal advantages
- Cheap to extract
- Easy to transport via surface infrastructure
- Accessible
Coal disadvantages
- Chemical impurities cause atmosphere pollution (sulfur, lead, mercury, arsenic, etc)
- Remanents of ash difficult to dispose
Petroleum
Fluid fossil fuel found in underground reservoirs
Petroleum advantages
- Convenient for transport/use
- Ideal for mobile combustion engines
- Produces only about 15% less CO2 emissions than coal
Petroleum disadvantages
- Poisonous trace components
- Oil drilling seeps oil into the environment in catastrophic quantities
- Drilling destroys habitats, fragile ecosystems, etc
Crude oil
- Liquid petroleum pulled straight from the Earth
- Refined into various materials: tar, kerosene, diesel, asphalt
Natural gas
- Gaseous fossil fuels
- 80-95% methane, 5-20% ethane/propane/butane
Natural gas advantages
- Extensive pipelines make it available to about half of America
- Fewer impurities
- Emits virtually no SO2 in combustion
- Emits 40% less CO2 than coal
Natural gas disadvantages
- A greenhouse gas
- Mining is potentially dangerous to the environment (groundwater contamination)
Oil/tar sands
- Viscous sands mixed with bitumen
- Mining is more labor intensive
- 12% higher CO2 emissions than coal
Bitumen
- Degraded petroleum
- Called pitch/tar when close to the surface
Keystone XL pipeline
Designed to transport 830,000 barrels of Alberta tar sands to Texas refineries
Liquified coal
- Liquid coal converted via CTL (coal to liquid) tech
- Heavily restricted in China + USA due to large coal reserved
- Many of the same drawbacks of tar sands + coal mining/CTL is dirty
Hubbert curve
- Predicts when we will reach peak oil
- An approximation of the production rate of a resource over time
- Created by geophysicist M. King Hubbert
Peak oil
Extraction and use of oil begin to decline
